Modern Day Forced Marriages

The Pentecostal church heads in Nigeria have their followers in such vice-like grips that anything they say is held as coming from God which shows most of these “places of worship” as cult-lands.
It’s not too long ago that a church leader actually set a female church member on fire after dousing her with kerosine. The “Rev” Johnson was found guilty of murder but there are many “pastors” out there whose unbridled power has gone beyond raking in money to taking over the lives of members MOST OF WHOM ARE WOMEN. They do with these vulnerable people, as they will.

Forced marriages are an aspect of the control over women these “churches” have now graduated to. As women shake off traditional practices like the old arranged marriages, Nigerian Pentecostal churches – more conservative than my great-grandmother’s era – have cast another shackle on women.

“Arrangee Marriage” the practice of arranged marriages is a serious problem in our society today. The tradition of forced marriages is widespread in Nigeria, usually parents selling their children into wedlock.

Children especially girls are forced into these marriages. If the girl is against the union, she could be kidnapped while out running errands, usually with her parents consent. Once the man (usually older) forcibly rapes the girl, she is left with few choices but to accept her fate and remain with him.

The new face of forced arranged marriages is the new wave of churches popping up in Nigeria today including the Christian Pentecostal Church. They marry based on the arrangement set for them by their religious leaders. The church tests for virginity, pregnancy, sickle cell traits and AIDS/HIV. The virginity and pregnancy tests are conducted on the bride for reasons best known to the church, a double standard…